Five ways to make the most out of the Chinese New Year

It’s the time of year when the trains groan with the weight of a nation returning home to feast with family, and every nook and cranny in the country shakes with the explosion of fireworks. If you haven’t booked your ticket out of China yet, we at City Weekend have compiled a list of musts for this year’s Chunjie season.

An explosive experience: Your mom may have told you that fireworks and alcohol don’t mix, but she was likely unaware of the magical combination of explosives and baijiu, which keeps this country of one billion going for ten days straight. The first night of the holiday is the best for viewing the fire flower display and mixing with locals, so grab your bottle and hit the Drum and Bell Tower square at the end of Gulou Dongdajie for a bit of local Chunjie action. A handful of bars in the square and on nearby hipster hutong Nanluoguxiang are available to you should you need a break from the ear-shattering kabooms and black smoke.

Just add jiaozi: It’s just not Chunjie without a steaming plate (or five) of jiaozi. Coupled with some baijiu and fireworks, a mound of those little juicy dumplings tops off the Chunjie experience. Try Xian Lao Man (6404-6944) for a sampling of their 45 types of house dumplings.

Go to a temple fair: For the requisite Chunjie culture fix, there’s no better option than a temple fair. While Baiyun Temple hosts the city’s most popular fair, we suggest skipping the long lines and heading to the fair in Ditan Park Temple Fair (see p. 45 for Community events) just north of the Lama Temple. It’s not too crowded and has games for the young and old. A highlight is the dancing Uighur vendors hawking chuan’r to blasting techno music in the food stall section. Bring your video camera and you have YouTube gold.

Map out your year: See what the year of the Ox has in store for you. Fortune telling has a long history in China and many still visit mystics for marriage and career advice. Most will be giving you your future in Mandarin, so you may need a translator. Try Yizuoqiming (see p. 46 for Community listing), a fortune-telling service near Zhangzizhong Lu. Sessions start at about ¥200.

Party like a peasant: Try getting away to a local village on the outskirts of the city. Chuan Di Xia is a quaint Qing-dynasty village a couple hours’ drive from Beijing, with accommodations for overnight guests. Hop a train to the west end of Line 10, Ping Guo Yuan, and grab the nearest tout with a car. Round-trip costs depend on your bargaining skills, but ¥250 is a fair price.

Laura Fitch